About this Blog

"In the future everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes." So said the bleached-out, late lamented artist Andy Warhol. Having lived and worked in New York City, Warhol came to fully grasp the hold celebrity has on us. In this very famous sentence, he meant to point out that in a culture fixated on fame, many people will suddenly flash brightly onto the public screen, then--poof--will just as quickly disappear from public view--like shooting stars. Other individuals derive their celebrity from one stellar accomplishment (one hit song, one iconic role, etc.) that they never again match.

This blog is devoted to the one part of our celebrity culture that no one has written much about: temporary/one-shot celebrities.

The pace of modern life has quickened, and now we hear people speaking of someone's 15 seconds of fame. These "celebrities with a lower-case c" who will appear in this blog sometimes come to us from the world of entertainment, sometimes from the world of news. All are fascinating.

The need of our communications media for a continual stream of new material assures that we will have no end of colorful people who go quickly, where celebrity is concerned, from zero to hero (or villain) and back to zero. Now you see 'em, now you don't. What a crazy world, eh?

Temporary celebrities coming from the world of entertainment include one-hit recording artists; TV and movie icons who, although they might have had a great many accomplishments in their career, are remembered for one big role; standouts of reality TV; sports figures remembered for one remarkable accomplishment; and people whose celebrity came from one big role in a commercial or print ad.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Inventor/Innovator Ermal Fraze

In 1963, Indiana native Ermal Fraze got a patent on the pop-top aluminum can, thereby making a huge impact on the beer and soft drink industries.

At a 1959 picnic, Fraze had wanted a beer but could find no "church key" opener. Inspiration struck. The former tool and die worker by that time owned his own company, Reliable Tool and Manufacturing.

He sold rights to the removable pop-top can to Alcoa as soon as the patent was approved. Iron City Beer of Pittsburgh was the first company to use the innovation, which from there found rapid acceptance. A non-removable opener was introduced by Continental Can more than a decade later.